Archive for October, 2010

I offer up two non-Halloween events for those who will admit that they can use a couple of breaks from Day of the Dead references this weekend. I complement those events with mention of… Halloween throwdowns, one for family and one for post 20-year-olds. Holler at me if you spot The Great Pumpkin, yo.

Saturday, October 30th:

11:00 a.m., Balboa Park hosts 2nd annual Halloween Family Day. This free event is particularly awesome for the little ones that want to stay in costume all weekend. In addition, kids 17 and under will get in free to over a dozen of Balboa Park’s museums, many of which will host Halloween centered activities.

7:30 p.m., Spike & Mike’s New Generation of Animation. This festival is the Rhone valley wine to Sick & Twisted’s two-buck-Chuck affair. So, don’t go expecting “No Neck Joe” or “Happy Tree Friends.” The animated shorts will be presented in Super HD at the La Jolla location of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Admission is $15 at the door; doors open at 6:30 p.m. To get tickets in advance, call (858) 459-8707 or e-mail spike@spikeandmike.com. NOTE: MCASD La Jolla is only the location of the event; they aren’t managing its ticket sales. Ticket sales are all arranged via Spike & Mike’s team.

8:00 p.m., Get your Halloween contest on at El Dorado.El Dorado Cocktail Lounge is the joint and the jam, and it’s the spot for Sleeping Giant Music’s & Armory Massive’s “Halloween 2010.” Cover is free until 10:00 p.m. In addition to their regular happy hour special–$5 for any cocktail off of their cocktail menu–El Dorado is offering up $7 Moscow Mules the rest of the night. If you’d like to partake in the costume contest for cash and prizes, check-in is at 9:30 p.m.; the contest starts at 10:30 p.m.

Tucked away in a strip mall on the edge of Hillcrest is Gossip Grill, a restaurant that may be tailored for the ladies that seek out ladies but welcoming of everyone.

Every day, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., this University Avenue joint offers up $3 appetizers and a buy-one-get-one-free deal on happy hour beers ($4 to $6) and, according to Dr. Ink of San Diego Uptown News, happy hour cocktails liquored up with Seagrams gin and vodkas, Sauza Silver Tequila and Early Times Bourbon.

How the buy-one-get-one-free works: Say you want a domestic beer. You order a domestic off of the happy hour menu and get it plus a poker chip. That’s the “buy-one” part. To make good on the “get-one-free” bit, you have to trade in your poker chip for either the same or a different domestic off of the happy hour menu before happy hour is over. If you miss the 7:00 p.m. cut-off, no worries–save the chip for the next time you visit during happy hour. The free-ness from the poker chip will always be good anytime from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m.

As of this posting, the appetizers available during happy hour for $3 include the following. There are a few more, but I forgot to catch what they were. Once I go back, I’ll update this post with the full list:

Moe-Jo Burger. I think that this is the best HH deal. It’s a full-size burger, cooked to your liking, and your choice of cheese can be added on request.

Berkshire Hot Dog. It’s served up Chicago style, with bright green relish, tomatoes, and onions. I’d consider this the second best deal.

Rosemary potatoes topped with vegetarian chili. Rumor says these are tasty and, portion-wise, these will take up residence in your gut. To be clear, when I say “rumor,” I’m not referring to Demi’s daughter.

Thai shrimp skewers. These shrimp are light and pack a kick, though one skewer won’t fill you up. So, get two. Or surf and turf it up by ordering it with either the burger or hot dog.

Buffalo chicken strips with blue cheese. SPICY goodness. But, as with the shrimp skewers, they won’t fill you up. Just saying.

Duo of bruschetta. The duo is of avocado and lime, and cherry tomatoes and goat cheese.

Hand-cut fries with gg (gossip grill) ranch. These were quite flavorful for finger width ‘tatos. I’d get them alongside the chicken strips, burger or hot dog.

And get this: Gossip Grill also features a daily special on top of the normal happy hour special. For Fridays, they offer a beer battered fish and chip combo for $12, made with cod and their homemade french fries, served up with their own secret sauce.

My husband didn’t get to use his “get-one-free” chip, so we’ll definitely be returning in the next couple of weeks to make good on it. Care to join?

“Lifestyle” electronic accessory maker MUNITIO proves that, yes, you can even get creative in re-purposing nine millimeter bullet casings with their inventory of bullet headphones.

They cost some serious coin, though–$159 for their standard issue titanium model, available in deep gold and dark silver. At that price, I find it best to admire them from afar, but admire them nonetheless.

Translation: The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, is hosting it’s next Thursday Night Thing event this coming Thursday, October 28th, starting at 7:00 p.m. The theme of this TNT is “Public Art” and its focus is on wondering aloud how art on buildings, on a sidewalk, posted on the back of street signs, etc. impacts its surrounding and those people that take notice of it.

I love TNTs. They’re a creative intermission between the earlier part of a 5-day work week and the blessed Friday that marks the work week’s conclusion.

As noted in my sandiego2night.com article about this event, there will be artists on deck to guide this discussion, two local bands supplying live music, and specialty cocktails served up.

The event lasts until 10:00 p.m. and takes place in MCASD’s Downtown location, off Kettner Boulevard. As with past TNT events, admission to the event also gives you admission into the Downtown MCASD.

General admission to the event is $10. Students that are not MCASD members pay $7. Tickets for the event can only be purchased at either the La Jolla or Downtown MCASDs. The night of, tickets will only be sold at the door of the Downtown MCASD. MCASD members get to attend for free and don’t require a ticket to get in.

Invader’s public art on the side of The Art Center building on 1250 G Street in San Diego. This was one of several pieces of art he added to San Diego’s Downtown landscape for the public site aspect of the MCASD exhibit, “Viva La Revolucion.” Image from Graffart.

Quite literally, many step over the fact that the lack of sanitation in the developing world is a serious issue. So, in hopes to stop the aversion of eyes, Acumen Fund is sponsoring a challenge called Search for the Obvious.

The challenge in their own words: “Use your creative genius to show the world that the lack of basic sanitation is one of the most critical issues facing the developing world today.” The creatively courageous and the courageous creatives can meet the challenge by tweeting the most retweetable tweet on the subject; fashioning a stellar story or essay; making a killer print ad or poster; turning heads with guerrilla marketing or public art; producing a video; and/or doing anything else not already mentioned.

Then, submit links to what you’ve done to sanitationissexy@gmail.com. Winning submissions will be featured by Design Observer, GOOD and YouTube in early December.